Ballyhoo (Sep 23, 1955)

Page scan 0009 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Sep 23, 1955
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Sep 23, 1955) Profit Blitz for 'Fitz'
Leaf #:
0009
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Global Cinema, and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Ballyhoo

  • Ontario 'B' District Ballyhoo, editor: Dan Krendel (1952-55)
  • Profit Blitz for ‘Fitz’, editor: Dan Krendel (1955)
  • National Ballyhoo, editor: Dan Krendel (1956-57)
  • Time Out for Ticket Talk, editor: Norman Barker (1960-61)

Ballyhoo (1952-61) was published by Famous Players Canadian Corporation as a mimeographed internal sales and theatre managers’ newsletter. Editor, Dan Krendel, had been division manager of the Ontario ‘B’ District since 1942, and initially created Ballyhoo in 1952 to circulate weekly updates for a regional sales contest. Ontario ‘B’ District Ballyhoo continued until 1955 as a tool for sharing and incentivizing new sales techniques and publicity methods as the movie business declined in the face of television and the baby boom.

In Fall 1955, Profit Blitz for ‘Fitz’ was a nationwide sales contest, named for Famous Players’ president J. J. Fitzgibbons, honouring his 25th year as head of the business. Dan Krendel was made National Drive Captain and edited a weekly newsletter for the campaign.

From 1956 until at least 1957, National Ballyhoo was published weekly with Krendel as editor. He continued the style and content developed earlier for his Ontario ‘B’ District, but now extended vastly for a chain-wide coast to coast scale. Ballyhoo’s sharing promotional tools came at a time of contracting box office as television and automobile ownership became prevalent in the mid-1950s.

By 1960 until at least 1961, Time Out for Ticket Talk continued as a mimeographed newsletter, edited by Norman Barker of the head office publicity department. Time Out was compiled on a less ambitious scale than Ballyhoo. Compared to the earlier national compilation of local publicity gimmicks, Time Out often contained only a single memo or reproduced local story, and was often undated and only informally edited.

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Date Added:
April 11, 2024
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v ‘ $10,000 IN CASH PRIZES with showmansh!P Fit ERO SERVE with showmanship mSAVE with showmanship howmanship wn lan Pade” 1955 SELL with 5 HONOURING 25 YEARS OF INSPIRED LEADERSHIP IN FAMOUS PLAYERS PALACE GUELPH National Drive Captain DAN KRENDEL A dandy campaign from Herb Chappel on each of INTERRUPTED MELODY and HOUSE OF BAMBOO. Let's pick a couple of highlights ... Herb arranged for every juke box in the area to be loaded with music from the pic, and had every machine tagged with nice cards carrying full credits. Kelly's ... a leading music dealer in town included a full pressbook mat in his regular newspaper ad... There's a firm in nearby Kitchener name of FAMOUS UPHOLSTERERS ... so what more natural than a tie-in with our ewn FAMOUS? I see a good looking 420 line ad, with a giant F.P. maple leaf en one side, and the merchants sig cut on the other, with copy tying in the two "Famous's ... Included in the ad is geod sales cepy fer HOUSE OF BAMBOO. oXeoXeXeX, TIVOLI HAMILTON Cary Grant was due to visit Hamilton in time for his premiere of TO CATCH A THIEF ... and strict instructions were issued by the Canadian "Voice of Paramount" that the event was not to be publicized in any manner, and Mr. Grant's name was not even to be whispered ... let alene put up in lights ... Don's hearing wasn't so good ... and quite by accident, a delegation ef several thousand exuberant Hamiltonians were on hand to welcome Mr, Grant ... the theatre was jampacked, and overflow crowds tied up the traffic for blocks. Oh yes ... we had the biggest opening day in months. The newspapers came out with thousands of lines ef copy and photos ,.. The T.V. station carried newsreel shots on their evening program ... The radio stations jammed the airwaves with complete descriptions of the event. Just goes to show ... there are times when you have to make your own decisions ... and, more important ... ACT ON THEM. eoXeXeXe Xe Xe WHAT'S WITH YOUR STAFF? The members of your staff can do a great deal to help you knock off some of that ten thousand bucks we've been talking about ... Let them in on the deal, huh? And, let them have their say.